Obama Calls on CDC to Research Violence in Videogames

As part of his plan to strengthen the country's gun-control laws, President Obama asked the Centers for Disease Control to investigate a possible link between gun violence and videogames.

In a White House memorandum, Obama implored the CDC to "conduct research on the causes and prevention of gun violence, including links between video games, media images, and violence," reports The Verge.

That's only the beginning, as Obama proposed implementing universal background checks, re-instating both the expired ban on military-style assault weapons and high capacity magazines holding more than ten rounds, and improving the country's awareness and treatment of mental illness.

Last week, Vice President Joe Biden met with the games industry and asked whether its depictions of violence are "coarsening our culture," while U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) proposed a bill that would ask the National Academy of Sciences to study how violence in videogames might affect children.